Ophthalmic lenses are worn by many people to correct vision problems. Vision problems are caused by aberrations of the light rays entering the eyes. These include low order aberrations, such as myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, and high order aberrations, such as spherical, coma, trefoil, and chromatic aberrations. Because the distortion introduced by aberrations into an optical system significantly degrades the quality of the images on the image plane of such system, there are advantages to the reduction of those aberrations.
Ophthalmic lenses are typically made by writing prescriptions to lens blanks. This is accomplished by altering the topography of the surface of a lens blank, as described in the background section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,953,381 to Siders et al. This is not an effective way to correct high order aberrations, though. Wavefront aberrators can be used to help correct such high order aberrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,989,938 (the '938 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,082, each to Bruns, describe wavefront aberrators and methods for manufacturing the same. The '938 patent describes how a unique refractive index profile can be created in a monomer layer by controlling the extent of curing of the monomer in different regions across the surface, thus creating a wavefront aberrator. The '938 patent further describes a method that allows one to achieve a unique refractive index profile through the creation of regions with varying degrees of cure. Additionally, the PCT application with the Publication Number WO 2006/029264 describes in more detail materials that may be used to correct high order aberrations.
Wavefront aberrators that correct for both low order and high order aberrations are known. These aberrators contain a polymer layer wherein the polymer layer can be programmed by curing to have a variable index of refraction profile or a constant index of refraction throughout the aberrator. See for example the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,813,082; 6,989,938; 6,712,466; 6,840,619; 6,942,339 and 7,021,764 all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, methods for easily using certain curable materials in conjunction with lens materials would be advantageous. One such method would be to provide a gap between two lens materials where a curable resin could be injected. Additionally, an ophthalmic lens that makes use of such methods would also be beneficial.